The Lock Vest Trap
by SpiritSoul698
Summary: You have made horrible mistakes. If you were faced with death, how hard would you fight to survive? Would you fight for a chance to redeem yourself? Hailey has until three o'clock to decide before the trap she finds herself in activates.


**Okay, three things:**

 **I have not seen all the Saw movies so sorry if I get something wrong**

 **This was based on a dream**

 **This was originally written for a school assignment.**

 **Okay, that's all. Enjoy!**

* * *

Darkness - that is what first greeted Hailey the moment she opened her eyes. Not a single light was on in the room she found herself in. It felt like she was submerged up to about her shoulders in some sort of cold liquid, and as the drowsiness left her the pungent smell of chlorine filled her nostrils. A huge amount of weight seemed to be pressing against her chest, and Hailey found it difficult to move. Beginning to panic, her hands fumbled around in the blackness, searching for something to grab hold of to pull herself out. She only felt more cold liquid, so she quickly resorted to kicking her legs as much as possible to try and stay afloat.

"H-hello? Is anyone there?" Hailey hoped that someone would hear her and come to her aid, but the only sound which reached her ears was the echoing of her own voice in the large room. It wasn't long before Hailey suddenly became frustrated. Was this her brother's work again? She was getting real sick and tired of him constantly pulling pranks on her. "Jack, I swear to God, if this is another one of your pranks-!"

Before Hailey could finish speaking, the lights flashed on without warning, illuminating all but the far corners of the room. Hailey covered her eyes with her hand, startled by the sudden change in brightness. When she finally adjusted to the light, she blinked a few times before glancing at her surroundings. Immediately, she could see that she was in an indoor pool currently immersed in the water up to her armpits. The clock on the wall in front of her read "two fifty-eight." Something was written below the clock in red paint, but she could not make out what it said for it was faded and appeared to be backwards.

Hailey then looked down at herself. She was wearing a strange metal vest-like contraption with a multitude of locks scattered about its surface. In the center of the vest was a small, red button. Attached to this vest was a long metal chain which stretched across to where the diving blocks were and had a massive weight attached to the other end. Finally, there was a small key tied to her wrist with a piece of string.

What in the world? There was no way Jack could have done something this elaborate. He usually resorted to simple pranks like replacing her shampoo with honey or putting worms and spiders in her food. Hailey's eyes widened as she realized this. The panic she had felt a few moments ago returned, only this time it was increased tenfold. She desperately tried to swim to the edge of the pool, but the vest was too heavy for her to try and get anywhere. "W-what's going on?! Someone help!" she cried.

Suddenly, a strange noise resembling that of a squeaky wheel sounded from the far left corner of the room. Before long, Hailey saw what looked like a little kid riding a tricycle. But as the figure came into the light, she could see that it was clearly no child - it was a humanoid puppet. Its outfit consisted of a black suit with a red bowtie, white gloves, and red shoes. Its face was all white with small, red spirals on its cheeks, and a crop of black hair rested on its head. Its eyes, however, were the most terrifying thing about his appearance. The irises were bright red and surrounded by black. The puppet stared directly at Hailey, motionless and silent for what felt like an eternity. Then the thing spoke in a slow, menacing voice.

"Hello, Hailey…"

Hailey gasped from the shock of the puppet knowing her name, and she almost stopped kicking her legs. "W-what do you want?" she asked, doing her best to sound tough. Her fear only betrayed her.

"I want to play a game," the puppet answered.

Upon hearing those words, Hailey suddenly recalled something her dad, an ex-police officer, had told her about a month ago. Right before her dad had resigned, his partner had been in the middle of working on a case involving someone known as "The Jigsaw Killer." This man placed people into traps that would lead to life or death situations he liked to call "games" in order to test their willingness to stay alive. "Why me?" Hailey asked herself, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "What have I done?"

Jigsaw's puppet seemed to know exactly what Hailey was thinking.

"For years, you have been blatantly selfish. You've taken all the attention away from those who need it most, and in doing so caused some of them to come close to taking their own lives. Yet you did not feel even an ounce of remorse. Tonight, you will know the feeling of being weighed down by the guilt you should have felt long ago, but you will have a chance to redeem yourself. At exactly three o'clock the weight attached to the diving block will drop into the water, sending you down along with it towards the bottom. In order to escape you must undo all the locks on the vest you are wearing using the key I have provided you. The red button on your chest will allow you to return to the surface to breathe, but be warned: after pressing the button five times, you will have thirty seconds before the vest fully contracts and crushes your body, killing you. Just remember, sometimes the answer isn't always directly in front of you."

Hailey frantically glanced over at the clock again. It now read "two fifty-nine."

"Live or die, Hailey. The choice is yours."

Without warning, a surge of adrenaline rushed through Hailey's body as she desperately tried to tug the key away from her wrist while her legs flailed in the water. Tears streamed down her face as the key refused to separate. Finally, after one particularly hard tug, the string snapped and the key disconnected from her wrist. A smile spread across Hailey's face, but she did not have time to celebrate before she suddenly heard the clock strike three. Just as the Jigsaw puppet had described, the weight disconnected from the diving block with a loud "clank" and went under the water. Hailey had hardly any time to take a breath before she suddenly became completely submerged as well. In her shock, she failed to realize that she managed to drop the key as she began to descend. Panicked, she swiped at the water, praying that she would manage to grab the key before she lost it forever.

She almost thought she was imagining things when she grabbed hold of the key again. Regardless, she wasted no time proceeding to undo the first lock she laid her eyes on. It came undone easily and sank to the bottom of the pool as Hailey proceeded to undo another one. But to her dismay, she realized she was already running low on air and quickly pressed the button to float back up. She eagerly gasped for breath as she broke through the surface, savoring each moment above the water.

However, just when Hailey thought things were going to be okay, she felt the vest clamp tighter around her body before the contraption brought her back under again. It was like being forcefully squeezed into a pipe. Hailey did her best to ignore the feeling and continued to undo the locks one by one. Her hands fumbled around as the panic returned once again. Sometimes she could barely hold onto a lock. She could almost hear the seconds ticking away in her head as she plummeted deeper into the water, and the pressure was building up in her ears. It soon became too much for her; she had to take another breath.

Shutting her eyes, Hailey pressed the button again, being sure to hold onto the key as she surfaced so as to not drop it again. Once again, the vest tightened as she remained above water. As she became submerged once more, Hailey realized to her dismay that the vest was pressing against her upper body so tightly that it now hurt to hold her breath. She did her best to ignore the pain as she got all but one lock off. However, as she grabbed ahold of the last one, she quickly realized that something was wrong. There was no key hole - this was a padlock. She needed a code, but where would she find it?

The writing on the wall! That had to be it! But she would need to press the button again in order to read it… Hailey hesitated before pressing the button again, and as she shot upward she felt the vest tighten once more, making it difficult to get enough air into her lungs when she surfaced. She squinted to try and see the writing better, but no matter how hard she focused she just could not make the numbers out. Then, as Hailey went under again, she remembered something the Jigsaw puppet had said: "'sometimes the answer isn't always directly in front of you.'" She pressed the button again, returning her to the surface, and immediately began to look around. There, propped up against the wall behind her, was a large mirror, reflecting the three number combination back to her: twenty-three, nine, and-

Without warning, Hailey was pulled back under the water before she had the chance to fully read the third and final number. She failed her arms and legs in an attempt to slow down her descent, but the struggle was all in vain. In her desperation, she attempted to input the combination. She thought she had seen a one. Perhaps that was the final number? However, when she tried to undo the lock, it failed to come off the vest. Maybe it was a seven instead? The same thing occurred. Hailey's entire upper body was in pain, and she was quickly running out of breath. If she could not figure this out, she would be forced to press the button one last time. Eleven? The padlock once again failed to unlock. Hailey had no choice - she had to press the button. That meant she had only thirty seconds left to figure this out.

Shutting her eyes, Hailey pressed the button to go back up. She could barely get enough air into her lungs as she broke through the water, but she finally managed to get a glimpse at the final number. Fourteen. It was fourteen! Knowing that time was running out, Hailey desperately hurried to finish the lock as she went under. Every second she had was precious; she could not afford to mess this up. Her body was in excruciating pain as she tried to hold her breath; she could quickly feel what little oxygen she had slipping away...

Twenty-three...nine...fourteen!

Hailey tore the padlock off the vest the instant it unlocked. She felt the metal vest loosen its hold on her, and she did not stop until she was sure it was completely off. As the contraption sank to the bottom of the pool, Hailey reached the surface, finally free. She gasped for air as she broke through the water, forcing her weak, tired body to swim towards the lane line. She grabbed hold of it with trembling hands and just stayed there, reflecting on everything that had just transpired. She had done it. She survived.

"Congratulations," the puppet said, having remained in his spot during the entire duration of the test. "Not many manage to survive these kinds of tests. But you are not like them. You no longer take your life for granted." There was a pause for a brief moment. "But Hailey, this is not over yet. Not by a longshot. There is still much more that needs to be done."

Hailey lifted her head just in time to see a hooded figure step into the room. He walked over to the puppet and stood beside it, staring directly at Hailey. The figure lowered the hood, and Hailey saw the face of a middle-aged man smiling at her. Somehow, she knew who this person was - the mastermind behind all of this: the real Jigsaw Killer. Jigsaw's smile was not one of malice, however. Rather, there was a mixture of interest and a strange sense of kindness.

"Hailey," he said, beckoning her forward with one hand. "I need you for an important task."


End file.
